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swampdonkey said:
Brownbear,
I am only just starting in the black powder world I just bought my first BP rifle about 10 days ago and I haven't even shot it yet. And I can't until I get it back from TC. It is a 54 cal, and I am in Tok. From the pictures I have seen they look like they are very easy to make. I'll give it a try when the rifle comes back and I have a little extra time. Thanks

Sounds like just the right rifle for your neck of the woods! Don't forget it's utility for bapping heads of snowshoe hares after the moose season. I'm betting a charge of 30-35 grains of 3f or Pyrodex P will shoot like crazy and give you lots of field practice.

Making your own loading blocks sure feels better, and it's dirt easy. Theres a table called Loading Block Drill Bit Chart in the Member Resources Section here at the site along with lots more valuable info for building your own stuff.

Enjoy that rifle and post pics of your moose!!!!
 
Ray Ferree of Thermopolis, WY makes rawhide ball bags for sale and also sells a good little booklet on how to make them, "Rawhide Ball Bags". His E-mail is [email protected]. I just saw him up at the Rocky Mountain National Rendezvous on Henry's Fork, WY last week. We had met before- I have built two Joel Ferree flintlocks and am about to start on a third.
 
The simple black deerskin bag holds 15 .54 ball for plinking or target shooting. When hunting I usually only carry one of the 2 bullet blocks. Which one depends on what I'm hunting and how long I'm going for.
5ec17c63.jpg
 
These are some one at a time types. The one on the upper right is rawhide from a chew toy. Soaked it till soft, unwrapped it, cut out the 2 halves, sewed them together with sinew while still wet, packet it with sand to shape it, after drying hard again, tap out all the sand and make a plug.

IMG_0748.jpg
 
Great examples and really fine work, dodgecity!

I'm always amazed just how many balls will fit into a small bag. I "recycle" old work gloves, using the fingers for ball bags. The middle finger from an extra large holds over 30 32 cal balls, even after losing some length to a drawstring. The same little bag holds 10 or so 54 cal balls.

My hunting kits keep getting smaller, and a ball bag is part of the reason. For my 54 cal I carry a 3-hole loading block, that small ball bag, a cap holder and a horn so small folks would call it a "priming" horn. With an old cap tin of homemade lube and a strip of ticking, I'm ready for an easy dozen shots. In fact that's 11 more than I've ever needed on deer, so that's a whole bunch of margin for error. Drop a worm and a jag in the bottom of the bag, and the whole works fits with room to spare inside a 6"x6" possibles bag with no gussets. Pretty darned handy!
 
Thanks for the kind words Brownbear. You outfit sounds efficient and well thought out. The idea of using fingers from old work gloves is really ingenius...you should send that in to Backwoodsman Magazine.
 

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